Police want to know where driver was before highway crash

By MARK HAYWARDNew Hampshire Union Leader

With an alleged drunk driver fighting for his life in a Boston hospital, a Hampton police official said part of an investigation into the crash involves where the 24-year-old driver had been drinking before the Thursday night accident.

Sandown resident Corey Laycock was listed in critical condition Monday morning at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, following the single-car accident at Routes 1 and 101 about 11:45 p.m. Thursday. He was listed in the surgical intensive care unit Monday evening.

Hampton police Lt. Daniel Gidley said Laycock was thrown from his mother's 1999 Oldsmobile, which rolled over several times after going down an embankment on Route 1. He suffered a host of injuries: brain injury; lacerations of the spleen, kidney and liver; damage to his lungs; a fractured knee and a shattered left arm, Gidley said.

If Laycock survives, he will likely lose the arm at the elbow, Gidley said.

Gidley said police are investigating what Laycock was doing that night. He said Laycock works at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, and an employee orientation meeting took place there Thursday.

"I don't believe there was any alcohol consumed, not there," he said.

Laycock has been charged with aggravated DWI, misdemeanor marijuana possession and driving the wrong way on a one-way road.

Police believe Laycock was traveling south in the northbound lanes of Route 1, when he attempted to turn onto a ramp that connects the southbound and northbound sides of the highway. The car went off the road, rolled several times and landed on its roof in the median of the highway.

Witnesses have told police they believe the car was speeding, Gidley said.

Gidley said the first police officer on the scene found Laycock face-down in a pool of blood. The officer prevented a drowning by lifting Laycock's head.

Police have a sample of Laycock's blood and will have it tested for alcohol concentration, Gidley said. He said a New Hampshire resident gives consent to a blood draw as part of the licensing process. Legally, a driver can refuse a draw, but Laycock was in no condition to refuse, he said.